For example, a copying machine is provided with a feeding apparatus that supplies paper onto which information recorded on a document is to be copied to the main body of the copying machine. In order to produce enlarged and reduced copies as well as a copy of an original document size, a common feeding apparatus includes a plurality of paper cassettes.
Feeding of paper from the feeding apparatus is classified into two feeding modes, first and second feeding modes, based on the position of the paper with respect to the transport direction. The first feeding mode is referred to as lengthways feed in which the longitudinal direction of the paper coincides with the transport direction. In the second feeding mode as sideways feed, on the contrary, the longitudinal direction of the paper crosses the transport direction at right angles. When transport speed is considered, sideways feed is preferable to lengthways feed. Accordingly, some copying machines feed not only A4-sized paper sideways, but also transport A3-sized paper sideways.
In order to feed large-sized paper sideways, however, the sizes of a photosensitive drum, transport rollers and a transport path must be enlarged, and thereby resulting in increases in the size of the feeding apparatus and its manufacturing costs. Thus, the feeding apparatuses are usually designed such that large-sized paper including A3-sized and B4-sized paper is fed lengthways and small-sized paper including A4-sized and B5-sized paper is fed sideways.
However, when such a configuration is adopted in a copying machine with a variable magnification function capable of producing enlarged and reduced copies, the size of the machine and its manufacturing costs are increased or the user must undertake complicated processes to operate the machine. Because, for example, in the case of producing reduced copies, paper cassettes which feed A4-sized and B5-sized paper lengthways must be provided. Besides, if transport speed is taken into account, it is also necessary to have paper cassettes which feed A4-sized and B5-sized paper sideways. Hence, in order to provide various types of paper cassettes, the size of the paper feeding machine must be increased or the paper cassettes must be changed according to an occasion.
To prevent such problems, for example, a feeding apparatus disclosed in a Japanese Patent Application, No. 1-116438/1990 has a paper cassette which is rotatable for feeding paper both lengthways and sideways. As illustrated in FIG. 47, the paper cassette is provided with a rotatable cassette 51 and a screw shaft 52 installed at right angles to the transport direction F. A nut member 53 is screwed onto the screw shaft 52. One of the corners of the paper cassette 51 is connected rotatably to the nut member 53. Mounted on the bottom surface of the paper cassette 51 is a cassette supporting plate 55 on which a guide slit 55a extending in the transport direction F is formed. Installed on the bottom surface of the paper cassette 51 is a guide shaft 56 that protrudes downward and is inserted into the guide slit 55a. As the screw shaft 52 is driven and rotated by a motor 54, the nut member 53 moves along the screw shaft 52. This causes the guide shaft 56 to be moved along the guide slit 55a, and the paper cassette 51 to be rotated. As a result, the position of the paper with respect to the transport direction F is changed.
In such a conventional configuration, however, there is a need to provide an extra space in the vicinity of the paper feed opening of the paper cassette in order to install the screw shaft 52 for rotating the rotatable cassette 51, motor 54 and a reduction mechanism (not shown) and other components. Thus, this configuration is against demands for decreases in the sizes of office automation machines, which have arisen due to increasing land prices, more particularly increasing costs of offices per floor area.